Darren Ferguson will be breathing a sigh of relief tonight as his Preston side recorded their first victory in seven games with a solitary Iain Hume goal.

Unfortunately Middlesbrough’s victory over high flying Cardiff means that the Lilywhite’s remain grounded at the foot of the table, but they are now within two points of safety as Scunthorpe fall into the drop zone due to the postponement of their game against Nottingham Forest.

The story however will remain to be how long Roy Keane can survive as manager of Ipswich Town as the Tractor Boys extended their run of league defeats to six.

Whilst playing away against any team in the Championship is a difficult task, this was an opportunity for Ipswich to play a side that is also out of form and you can imagine that the fans and chairman would have been looking at a draw as the minimum acceptable result at Deepdale today.

It is unclear where this leaves Roy Keane with Marcus Evans put in a difficult situation, as it is unclear with confidence so low where a turn in fortunes is going to come from.

The former Manchester United midfielder has been at the club for over eighteen months and the team is of his design so excuses are in short supply.

Good chairman are always hesitant about changing manager part of the way through a season (Mike Ashley take note) but with Ipswich now just three points away from the relegation zone we may be at the point where the Irishman’s luck has run out.

However I think that Keane should be given until the New Year to improve results as to change manager going into the busy Christmas period would only destabilise the club further, however another defeat or too and I think I will be writing about his demise.

A fantastic victory for Preston, but the storm clouds continue to gather at Portman Road.

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